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Watched Anastasia (1956) two days ago. I had forgotten that I have this title until I looked through my DVDs and the name Ingrid Bergman is on one of them (Gaslight). Then I remember that it has been a long time since I watched Anastasia.

I understood that this movie is Bergman's comeback movie after several years abroad. I can use every single adjective there is but it will never be enough to describe her flawless acting. The movie never confirms her identity, but I do think that she is the real Anastasia.To me, had Anastasia lived, she would have been a tragic figure who once had a happy family but lost it all during the revolution, and she became forlorn, desperate and lonely. Bergman certainly captures this tragic aspect of Anastasia. I could sense her fear throughout the movie. The ending had me in tears. The Dowager Empress truly loves Anastasia, and her last line "I will tell them that the play is over, go home!" is a testament to her regal and dignified self, befitting a noble.

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A politically ignorant person who embraces only hedonism as the main philosophical doctrine.

Didn't know this existed, but I subscribe to a premium cable package and this was part of the "free movies on demand" section - Starship Troopers: Invasion

As much as a movie that is done entirely in CGI can be a sequel to a non-CGI movie .. this was a sequel to the first Starship Troopers movie! As always there is: 1) immense violence and dismemberment and 2) nudity -- only this time in CGI. Corny dialogue, excess adrenaline and JOHNNY RICO! So, to say it's a good movie -- no, just no -- but was it faithful to the first movie and would fans of the first movie enjoy it? Oh hell yes!

Saw 'Gangster Squad'. What a juvenile film, which is strange considering the very adult cast and very R-rated violence. Simply put, it was The Untouchables or LA Confidential, only for children (maybe it was trying for Dick Tracey?), and not very smart children at that. Ridiculously dumb characters doing extremely dumb things all under the guise of being 'mature' when in reality it there is more depth to a puddle of water. Sean Penn and Ryan Gosling were atrocious, Emma Stone existed to look hot and nothing more, Josh Brolin was given a somewhat decent backstory (the very idea of returning WWII vets coming back home to mid-40's LA and cleaning up sounds like lots of fun...to bad the script wastes the premises potential), then of ocurse are the random black guy (who knows all about drugs because...well hes black I guess), random moralist Giovanni Ribisi (who exists only to raise moralistic questions 'Are we no better than them?, only to then shut up and blow peoples brains out), etc. The only character (and scene) with any redeeming value is Mireille Enos as Brolin's wife (damn is she good).

Despite all of this, and maybe because Penn, Gosling and Brolin all circle the abyss of silliness and the violence is so over-the-top (especially the starngely fun if ridiculous finale), the film is extremely entertaining. It has no real soul, but it is hard not to appreciate a film that feels like such a self-aware video game-esque crazy story that goes nowhere but has endless fun circling the drain. 55/100.

The fall
It was good. A clever and emotional concept. But in the end I feel rather empty about this film because

Spoiler for ENDING SPOILER:

He didn't kill himself but I thought it was sad that the little girl and Ray didn't keep in contact with each other. The little girl went back to risking limb picking oranges. Ray went back to being an unknown stuntman. That doesn't give me much satisfaction.

Cloud atlas
Seems like they were trying really hard to make something "cool" and failed. I thought the Sonmi storyline was fascinating, but the storytelling felt cold and clinical and nothing I hadn't seen in other films before. It was the only storyline I liked, but it represented only 1/6 of the film - and that 1/6 wasn't even all that good.

Saw Lincoln. Awesome movie! Story was a lot better and more attention-grabbing than I expected. If only it had actual civil war action that would have been awesome. A shame it only grabbed one golden globe.

Saw Zero Dark Thirty. Excellent movie depicting the harsh reality of the things that have to be done by the CIA when needing to extract vital information. Jessica Chastain's performance was top notch worthy of her Golden Globe award, a true depiction of what a CIA agent does in this kind of assignment.

Back a few years ago, I didn't know why The Hurt Locker won the Academy Award for best movie until I got my hand on the DVD. Now, it's safe to say Kathryn Bigelow knows very well how to tell this kind of story by going deep into things and people as well.

Battleship (2012): Weird blockbuster movie. One the one hand it's a Micheal Bay like action flick with ships and terrible acting. On the other it's one of the strangest alien invasion concepts I've seen.

The concept: Alien reconnaissance force responds to an earth SETI signal and has an accident in near earth orbit when their communication ship is destroyed after colliding with an earth satellite. They land near the SETI uplink location in Hawaii and quickly secure the island and surrounding sea with as little collateral damage as possible in an attempt to contact their home planet. Their motives are left unclear.

This is the first time Ive seen a movie where the aliens appear to be like a modern military with a defensive mindset, minimizing collateral damage and a clear mission. In fact they come across as more professional than the Navy. Especially in terms of SAR and sparing civilians and non-combatants. The hot-headed tactics of the reckless main character and his brother start the conflict. In the end it's the Japanese ally and old veterans saving the rather clueless hero's butt.

So is this a recruitment film like Top Gun or a satire on the military like Star Ship Troopers?

Silver Linings Playbook. Wow. Loved it. Just watched it, so I'm kind of overwhelmed here, but... yeah. You should go watch it. The performances by the actors were amazing and the story is really great too. One of the best romantic comedies (dramedies?) I have ever seen.

Silver Linings Playbook. Wow. Loved it. Just watched it, so I'm kind of overwhelmed here, but... yeah. You should go watch it. The performances by the actors were amazing and the story is really great too. One of the best romantic comedies (dramedies?) I have ever seen.

Saw it as well. I actually really didn't think it was funny at all, well maybe at the end of the competition but not really. Not gonna lie but I kind of liked Jennifer Lawrence's character in this movie. Sort of the "bad" girl type, or should I say "dtf"...haha, anyways, agreat drama/story nonetheless

Saw it as well. I actually really didn't think it was funny at all, well maybe at the end of the competition but not really.

Well, it was funny in a different kind of way. I found the dinner party, the Ernest Hemingway bit and other bits like that to be very amusing. Like I said, it's not your usual lough-out-loud type of humour, but I think it works very well

I really couldn't help but be impressed after finally watching Life of Pi onscreen.

First off, the visuals were amazingly detailed with a diverse color palette. Combine that with the surreal nature of the story, and you have a winner. Another reason this movie hit a number of chords with me is how it perfectly captures the sublime, intimate relationship of religious belief within the individual. Within the vast, empty universe of existence, religion and faith serves as an anchor to provide a purpose for living. Even as an atheist, the movie was pretty spot on in describing the journey of self-discovery and subsequent self-affirmation.

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"Thereís an up higher than up, but at the very top, down is all there is."

Recently watched Dredd coz itís been laying around in my lappy for three days before I touched it, and guess what? Those who said the plot is similar to The Raid is actually spot on . Many elements presented in The Raid made a come back in Dredd (minus the martial arts):

Bad guy owns a whole building -> The authority come to catch the criminals -> the building is sealed -> the master bad guy instructs his/her underlings to hunt the authority down through intercom with some swagger -> for our MCs thereís nowhere to go but up -> all hell breaks loose.

Out of the two movies, who wrote their scripts first, I wonder? Still, I like how Karl Urban played Dredd and made him a badass character. All that said, itís a very enjoyable movie with a bit of gore and I give it a thumb up ^^.

At a birthday party I had the pleasure of watching The Room, Birdemic, and Trolls 2.

The Room was especially hilarious. Tommy Wiseau is pretty much responsible for creating an HBO/Showtime late night porno PPV. Plus half the things he says are just comedy gold. It's a great watch for a group of friends, and especially if alcohol is involved.

Birdemic is the greatest worst movie I have ever seen in my life, and it even had an environmental message. Several of them, actually... I really can't describe this movie in words, as the description would make it look bad.